Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Monkey Business ❯ Monkey See, Monkey Do ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of its characters.

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Previously in Monkey Business:

Nappa was certainly not lying about the electrical barrier over the door. The force of the current made his muscles twitch. Vegeta decided to take a different approach. Instead of blowing up the door itself, he focused a beam of energy on the wall surrounding the door. To his relief, the beam penetrated the wall and created an outline of the doorframe. As soon as his task was complete, Vegeta stood watching the situation unfold before him. The door and what portion of the wall that was connected to it, just sort of fell into the hallway. The scene reminded him of a domino falling.

As the smoke and debris from the wall's impact cleared, Vegeta was amazed at what he saw inside of the bathroom. "How the Hell did this happen!?!" Vegeta screamed at no one in particular.

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Chapter 6: Monkey See, Monkey Do

'This woman is becoming more of a pest than she's worth.' Vegeta stood in hallway letting his eyes scan over the bathroom looking for any indication of how she could have escaped. There was no way he would let her get away, not after all of the trouble she put him through. "Nappa, search the corridors and post guards at all of the buildings exits."

As Nappa took off down the hall, Vegeta scanned the bathroom for any possible escape route. Pieces of various machines were strung all over the floor. Vegeta made his way around the disassembled parts and stopped by one of the bathroom walls. Then he saw it. The screws that kept the vent in place were gone; the screen on the vent was just sitting in place.

Vegeta picked up his scouter to get her exact location, but there were too many people in the palace. The scouter was picking up readings in all directions. 'Wait, she had a power level of eight. None of my guests would dare step foot in the palace with a power level so small.' Vegeta set the scouter to pinpoint beings with an extremely low power level. 'Ah ha! There you are. So, you went into the walls. Well, two can play that game, you're not going to get away so easily.' Vegeta decided that his palace had sustained enough damage for one day, so instead of just blowing a hole trough the walls to get her, he crawled into the bathroom vent.

He hated being reduced to sneaking through the air units to find a measly woman. "Who the Hell does she think she is? I am the one with the royal blood in my veins!" Vegeta growled to no one in particular. This endless crawling was beginning to bore him and it was too late to turn around now. "I should have just blown up the damn wall when I had the chance"

'At least she keeps things interesting.'

"Who are you?" Vegeta tried to turn his head around to find the owner of the voice, but found that he was completely alone.

'I don't have a definite name. I guess that I would be classified as: your inner monologue, the manifestation of your innermost thoughts, or possibly your conscience. In essence, I'm you.'

"Impossible. The Prince of all Saiyans does not talk to himself."

'Oh but you do. Remember how you always suppressed your emotions and thoughts that you deemed "weak"? All of the problems you couldn't face in your own mind were cast aside. You created me. Like I said before, I come from your innermost thoughts. The emotions you tried to eliminate never really left. Think of it this way, no one knows the "real you," you put up a coldhearted front and people do not question it. I am the side of you that no one gets to see, I am not afraid to admit my feelings and I do not revolve around my pride.'

"If you are some hidden part of my psyche, why are you choosing now to make your presence known?"

'You need me. Now more than ever before.'

"I need no one! I am the strongest being in the entire universe!"

'Is that so? You certainly are a force to be reckoned with, but one thing still puzzles me. Why is such strength wasted on a "weakling female"? She causes you so much anxiety, yet you refuse to rid yourself of her. Why does such a powerful monarch put up with her insolence? What keeps you from killing her without a second thought like everyone else who angers you?'

"The woman came from a planet out of our galaxy. If I were to kill her now, we would never know if her home world had a prominent water source. The Saiyan race needs water; I am willing to let the woman live a few days longer to get the information I need. When I know everything she knows, I will kill her."

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"Oh man. How many turns can one airshaft possibly have?" Bulma was about to stop and take a break when she heard a voice behind her. She strained her ears to make out the words but they were too muffled to understand. 'Wait a second. People don't just crawl around in airshafts. Damn it, they've found out where I am. I thought the little door trick would have bought more time than that.'

Suddenly the idea of stopping for a break didn't seem so appealing anymore. Further down the airshaft, Bulma found that the airshaft in front of her was a screen that she would have to crawl over. Since there was obviously someone else behind her in the airshaft, the only direction Bulma could go was forward.

As Bulma was crawling over the screen, she saw a hallway right under her. She also saw a man walking through the hall. He was too far away to make out any kind of features, but since he was walking in her direction, she would be able to see him clearly soon enough. As she tried to get out of his line of sight, she heard the screen creak. If Bulma moved around too much more she risked the screen collapsing altogether.

All she could do was stay as still as possible and hope that she didn't fall through the screen until the hall was empty. Bulma prayed to Kami that the man wouldn't see her through the screen. All she had to do was stay perfectly still and hopefully she would not be found out.

No such luck. Just as the man passed underneath her, the screen gave out and Bulma landed rather ungracefully on top of the unfortunate Saiyan. Lucky for her, the Saiyan she was now sitting on was the only one in the hallway, and he seemed to be unconscious. Bulma got off of the man's back, and as she started to leave, the Saiyan began regaining consciousness. Bulma took one glance at him and almost fell over. She couldn't believe it. "Bardock!?! Oh Kami am I ever glad to see you!"

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Vegeta was in the midst of his thoughts when a loud thud caught his attention. He decided to investigate the sound, 'I guess the woman is a bigger klutz than I gave her credit for.'

As Vegeta neared the source of the noise, he decided that it would be a good idea not to allow his presence to be known just yet. This was one of those situations that occurred few and far between. You know, the one where the idea is not to shoot first ask questions later. Vegeta found the idea rather odd, but thought it was the best course of action for the time being.

Vegeta made his way to the hole in the airshaft and slowly popped his head over the edge. Fortunately, there were only two people in the hallway below him. Bulma being one of the hallways occupants came as no surprise to Vegeta, but the other being in the hallway confused him. It appeared to be a Saiyan male, and by his appearance looked like a third-class warrior. Why was he just talking to her? Did he not know that he had an obligation as a Saiyan warrior to turn her in? Maybe he helped her escape…

Vegeta wanted answers. Since this silly 'listening' idea was not working, he decided to ditch it. A new approach was needed. Vegeta cleared his throat, a little louder than necessary, but to his satisfaction, he got the desired attention. A small smirk started to form on corners of Vegeta's mouth as he watched the color drain from the faces of Bulma and her companion. 'It seems as though things are looking up.'

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Bulma looked up and was terrified of what she saw. There above her, sitting in the very airshaft she just fell from, sat Prince Vegeta wearing his trademark smirk. 'How did he get here so fast? It took me at least an hour to get here, and he had to get through my trap. Well, so much for my plan to buy some time for my escape.'

"Prince Vegeta, what brings you here at a time like this? I thought you were attending the banquet." Said Bardock trying to calm Vegeta's obvious furry.

"That woman caused quite a scene at my banquet. As a matter of fact, she has made the entire palace guard go into quite an uproar." Said Vegeta, who did not bother to hide the venom in his voice. While Bulma and Bardock were processing this information, Vegeta took this opportunity to climb out of the airshaft. "Now, err…"

"Bardock, Prince Vegeta."

"Now Bardock, if you have no other questions, I will take the woman and be on my way."

"Yes, sir." And with that, Bardock made his way down the corridor from which he came.

"Follow me", was all that Bulma heard as Vegeta started to make his way down the corridor. As she was walking behind him she heard him grumble things like "Damn woman" and, "Stupid airshafts".

After about fifteen minutes of hearing Vegeta grumble to himself, Bulma decided, "This is going to be a long night."